Oregon State government

We have made tremendous progress in Oregon over the past several years – from passing one of the most aggressive clean electricity standards in the country, to passing and defending the Clean Fuels Program to reduce climate pollution in transportation. We still have a long way to go, but Oregon’s natural beauty, clean energy innovation, and tradition of promoting sustainable prosperity makes Oregon a natural climate leader that can inspire action in the Northwest and beyond. Our priorities include:

Clean Energy Jobs bill: Oregon can take a major step in the transition from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy. This major priority would limit and put a price on climate pollution, use the proceeds to invest in clean energy solutions, and support the communities most affected by climate change.

100% Clean Energy: In 2017, the City of Portland and Multnomah County passed groundbreaking commitments to 100 percent clean and renewable energy. We are helping develop implementation plans to achieve these ambitious goals, and working with other cities and counties in Oregon to develop a groundswell of support for a 100% clean energy future.

Electrifying transportation: Electric vehicles (EVs) offer one of the most promising ways to curb the climate pollution from transportation. We are working with transit districts, utilities, and local governments to accelerate the transition to EVs, including supporting the expansion of EV charging and encouraging TriMet to buy clean electric buses rather than continuing to rely on dirty diesel, following the path of other public transit agencies like King County in Washington and Lane Transit District in Eugene.

Energy efficient buildings: Buildings are responsible for 40% of our climate-changing pollution. We are working with partners and the governor’s office to help Oregon move toward constructing homes and buildings that produce as much energy as they use - zero energy buildings. If all new homes and buildings were energy efficient, we would significantly reduce climate pollution, while also cutting energy costs for owners and renters by nearly two-thirds and improving air quality where we live and work.

Stopping new, long-term investments in coal, oil, and fracked gas: We need to stop making it worse by preventing the fossil fuel industry from locking us into dangerous, climate-polluting coal, oil, and fracked gas for decades to come. Oregon took a momentous step in 2017 with an agency decision that stopped Portland General Electric from building a new fracked gas plant, and we will continue to send a clear message that fossil fuel infrastructure is not welcome in Oregon.

The end of Oregon’s 2019 legislative session exposed some of the egregious corporate lobbying in Salem that blocks climate action – sometimes in public, but many times behind the scenes in the halls of the State Capitol. Boeing Corporation was one of the most visible bad actors, but there were other culpable companies – some of whom have a little-known history of working against climate progress. One of those companies is the American Automobile Associat Read more

Governor Kate Brown announced today that she supports calling the Oregon State Legislature into a special session, but addressing the climate crisis was notably absent from the agenda. This omission is the latest major failure by Oregon’s elected officials to fulfill their promise to take climate action to protect this place we all call home.
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After a record-length debate following record-high temperatures in Salem, the Oregon House of Representatives passed the Clean Energy Jobs Act, HB 2020B, 36-24. Now the Senate will take up the bill.
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It is accurate but insufficient to call Climate Solutions the best climate organization in the region – it just might be the finest regional climate group in the world. — Denis Hayes, President, Bullitt Foundation